


Hold On

by JustAnotherWriter (N1ghtshade)



Series: Advent Calendar Gift Fics [7]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Platonic Hand Holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 19:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16898442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N1ghtshade/pseuds/JustAnotherWriter
Summary: 5 times Jack held Mac's hand and 1 time Mac held Jack's.It's me, so it's purely platonic and angsty and a little whumpy...





	Hold On

**Author's Note:**

  * For [slightly_ajar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/slightly_ajar/gifts).



**+1 (part 1)**

 

They don’t know when Jack is going to wake up. The hit he took to the head before being bundled into a car and sent off to his intended death at the bottom of a cliff was hard enough to make a man who normally laughs off concussions as pale and still as a corpse. 

Mac sits in a Romanian hospital and holds Jack’s hand.  _ Everything he did, he did for me. If he dies, it will be because of me.  _ Matty told him she’s found out that Mareks was spying on Mac. That Jack did what he did to keep Mac safe. 

_ He risked his life for me, and I’ve been holding him at arms’ length for months.  _ Mac can’t leave Jack’s side, not for anything.  _ What if he never wakes up? What if I never get to tell him I’m sorry? What if I never get the chance to thank him for not giving up on me? _

 

**1**

 

The time, the explosion  _ isn’t  _ Mac’s fault. Jack can find an odd source of humor in that, even as they plummet to what might be their deaths in a jet with a giant hole in its side. Nope, this time the rogue terrorist cell of the week decided to make a cliche dramatic exit in style. Leaving Mac and Jack with a plane full of barrels of radioactive sludge and a bomb ready to explode on impact. 

He’d probably still be making jokes, despite the situation, if he wasn’t currently trying to talk the kid down from the biggest panic attack Jack’s seen him have since the Sandbox.

Granted, if Jack doesn’t keep hanging on and find a way to pull them both back to a spot where they’re not actively being sucked out of the hole to their doom, Mac is going to fall to his death. Mac yelled that all they had to do was wait for the pressure to equalize inside the cabin and this would stop, but that was before the plane hit an air pocket, lurched, and flung him too close to the opening.

Now the kid’s clinging to Jack’s hand for dear life, tears slipping down his face from closed eyes. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay, I got you,” Jack says.

And then the pull of pressure isn’t as strong, and Jack’s able to pull Mac back into the relative safety of the plane. The kid’s shaking violently, and Jack pulls him into a hug. Mac holds it for a few moments, but then pushes Jack away and starts moving toward the front of the plane. Because they still have a crisis to stop. 

 

**2**

 

It was supposed to be an easy mission. In and out, retrieve a flashdrive and walk away. 

And for once, freaking once, it was actually true. No, the reason Jack is sitting in the back of the exfil van, thinking his hand might be the next thing to need a cast after the medics are done setting Mac’s leg, is the kid’s own clumsy nature. 

They were out of the facility, with the flashdrive, and enjoying a nice leisurely stroll through the mountains where the secret base had been, to the exfil coordinates. Mac as usual was being infuriatingly good at it, teasing Jack whenever he got winded scrambling over rocks and downed trees. In Jack’s defense, he argued every time, he’d been the one who fought off ten guys while Mac found a way to bypass the security doors.  _ Okay, maybe it was more like five guys, but still… _

Jack’s stomach was beginning to complain a little louder than the blisters on his heels when it happened. One minute Mac was climbing a small bluff to check their location, the next the kid was rolling down scarily fast. Jack  _ heard _ the crack when he slammed to a stop against a boulder near the bottom. 

By the time he got to the kid, Mac was panting, reaching for his leg but looking afraid to touch it. Jack could already tell they were dealing with a broken bone.  _ At least it’s the lower part of his leg, not the femur. _ Jack doesn’t think the kid would have been able to make it out of that was the case. 

Together they’d rigged up a decent improvised splint and based on what Mac had managed to see before falling, found exfil. And now, letting his hand be slowly crushed in the kid’s pained grasp, Jack can finally relax. 

 

**3**

 

“Jack?”

“What?”

“Did you know that you can make decent night vision goggles out of low-light security cameras?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Oh.”

“Only because you told me five minutes ago.” 

Jack shakes his head at the concussed, confused kid he’s currently dragging through the halls of the secure facility they’re breaking out of. Jack’s fairly confident he can get them out; it would be easier if Mac was functioning at normal capacity but the last time they were interrogated, the kid took one too many hard hits to the head.

“Oh.” Mac tugs at Jack’s hand. “My ribs hurt. Can we stop running?”

_ My ribs hurt...yeah, cause you’ve probably got two or three busted ones.  _ Jack shakes his head at the kid’s pain tolerance. Even concussed and loopy he downplays whatever’s wrong. 

“No, I’m sorry, we can’t.” Jack locks his hand a little tighter around Mac’s wrist and drags him down a hallway, trying to ignore the approaching pounding boots in the hallway behind them.  _ Just a little farther…  _

 

**4**

 

The world is blurry and full of smoke and pain when Jack wakes up. He shakes his head slowly, fighting the sudden sick feeling. It’s more than the concussion, more than the pain from his leg trapped under the dashboard of the secure transport vehicle.

It’s the thought that that maniac might have his partner again. The last thing Jack remembers is seeing Murdoc walking up to the vehicle he just flipped with a grenade launcher, smiling down at Mac. And then he blacked out.

His whole body hurts , and he can’t really turn his head because of the way he’s trapped in the car. So instead he reaches out with his right hand and feels along the crushed metal and broken glass, ignoring the pain.  _ Mac. _ He has to make sure Mac is okay. 

When he feels the seat material but no warm body he panics. The harsh breaths burn in his throat from the smoke. And then a trembling hand twists fingers into his. Jack relaxes as he feels familiar calluses and scars. Mac is still here. Murdoc hasn’t stolen him away again. They’re going to be all right.

 

**5**

 

Jack has the feeling he’s seen this in a movie before. If he could remember which one he’d be making references like crazy right now...was it Indiana Jones, maybe...but at the moment he’s a little more preoccupied with getting away from the guerilla militia that want to kill them. 

He’s pretty sure these guys won’t follow them if they jump what looks like three stories off this waterfall. But he’s also pretty sure the reason is that these guys don’t want to commit suicide. 

“Mac, any better ideas?”

Mac shakes his head. “They’re closing in from all sides. I think it’s our best bet. And if we can stay out of the immediate area of the waterfall hopefully we’ll be able to avoid getting sucked under by the current and drowning.” But the kid’s voice is shaking.  _ He doesn’t want to jump, not that far. _

“That’s very reassuring. I was kinda hoping the fall would kill us first.”

“It’s only about twenty-five feet. We’re not gonna die...unless the water is really shallow.”

“Thanks.” Jack grabs Mac’s hand. “One, two, three, go? Or go on three?”

And then a shot cracks into the tree beside them, and Jack pulls Mac over the edge, screaming “Threee!” as they plunge to the water below.

 

**+1 (part 2)**

 

Mac’s falling asleep in spite of himself when he feels Jack’s fingers tighten around his. He sits up with a start, knocking his head against the IV stand and wincing.

Jack blinks blearily, then turns his head to glance at Mac. “We lived, huh?” He asks, voice raspy.

“Yeah, we did.” Mac feels like crying with relief.

“I’m getting too old for this,” Jack grumbles. “I may not be the genius of this operation, but I’d like to keep the few brains I’ve got from being scrambled, ya know?”

Mac begins to chuckle.  _ Jack is okay. We’re going to be just fine. _ Because Jack already knows how Mac feels. And he’s just reminding him that nothing’s changed. It’s still the two of them against the world, the way it’s always meant to be.


End file.
